The “OK” Hand Gesture Has Now Been Classified As A Hate Symbol

You know, you give these modern Nazis a platform, and they’re just gonna keep ruining EVERYTHING.

The Anti-Defamation League just added 36 new entries to its database of hate symbols. And one of the more notable ones is the “OK” hand gesture.

It started off as a plan by people on hateful message boards on websites like 4chan, 8chan, and Reddit to “troll” people by claiming the “OK” hand gesture was actually a way to make the letters “WP” with your hand . . . for “white power.”

But like things go these days, the line between memes and trolling and legitimate far-right hate blurred . . . and lots of white supremacists actually adopted the “OK” gesture. (Some would argue there was never much difference in the first place.)

One example: The man who murdered 51 people at mosques in New Zealand flashed the signal during his courtroom appearance.

Now . . . all that being said, it’s not cut and dry as a hate symbol, like, say, a swastika. The ADL says it depends on the context . . . sometimes the “OK” gesture still means what it used to, sometimes it’s used as a hate signal.

Quote, “‘OK’ has meant just ‘OK’ for so long. [But] at this point, there is enough of a volume of use for hateful purposes that we felt it was important to add.”